Heavy duty Twin Blade Baili BD176, Maggards V3M or Razorock Teck II with Saiver Plate

[ErkRusselReserve]

I have just started using a Baili BD176 on account of some good reviews on here. It is akin to an Old Type with a guard and has very good blade rigidity. The handle is rubbish, so using a stainless handle really improves the shave. The head/razor is sold under Baili, Maggards and Razorock among others. It is well made Chromed Zamac and pretty mild.

Doing some searches on Youtube, I came across a hack by Subieshaves where he used the middle plate from the Russian Saiver Razor with the head to make a twin blade Old Type (with guard). Pretty cool! The Saiver is aluminum and plastic, so using a zinc head and steel handle will really up the rigidity of the experience.

I actually already have three Saivers on the way, so I look forward to trying this out. Cheap too!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Wow. The Saiver razor arrived. I installed the split blade and full blade in it. Here is a picture:

I used factory cut blades for the top and a full blade on the bottom. There is a little play in where you can place the top blades. You can place them more to the post or to the tabs. In this instance I put them as flush to the post as I could. I’ll give it a few strokes tomorrow and again with no blades in the top.

However, I think the star of the show will be the Baili head loaded with one full blade plus spacer and then another full blade. I tried it with split blades in the top above the plate, but it protruded past the lower blade. So this is with two full blades:

Initial testing on a few hairs on my chin showed that indeed, it is much more efficient than a single blade in the Baili head. Feels strong, a bit like a Twin cart but much heavier. The head has a rather strong arch and the top cap and baseplate share the same curve, so the blades ended up being parallel AFAICT.

If I post again in this thread, it shall be known that this razor did not kill me.

 

[Slapo]

Wow. The Saiver razor arrived. I installed the split blade and full blade in it. Here is a picture:

View attachment 1861255

I used factory cut blades for the top and a full blade on the bottom. There is a little play in where you can place the top blades. You can place them more to the post or to the tabs. In this instance I put them as flush to the post as I could. I’ll give it a few strokes tomorrow and again with no blades in the top.

However, I think the star of the show will be the Baili head loaded with one full blade plus spacer and then another full blade. I tried it with split blades in the top above the plate, but it protruded past the lower blade. So this is with two full blades:

View attachment 1861256

View attachment 1861257

Initial testing on a few hairs on my chin showed that indeed, it is much more efficient than a single blade in the Baili head. Feels strong, a bit like a Twin cart but much heavier. The head has a rather strong arch and the top cap and baseplate share the same curve, so the blades ended up being parallel AFAICT.

If I post again in this thread, it shall be known that this razor did not kill me.

I wonder how much the bottom blade is engaged in the Baili head - perhaps you could simply use the spacer as just a shim between the base plate and blade to achieve nearly the same result.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

I wonder how much the bottom blade is engaged in the Baili head - perhaps you could simply use the spacer as just a shim between the base plate and blade to achieve nearly the same result.

Since the end tabs are covered it might be hard to tell. I think the baseplate and cap share the same curve, but I will need to open it up to compare, although one might need to make a mold to actually check 100%. Well, precision measuring and some math may do it as well. It is like an Old Type where the baseplate is curved without cutout.

Here is a pic of the items (the RR Teck head is the same) from another poster (this was his last post on the combo). I'll take another pic with the baseplate upright later:

The Frankenrazor Thread

My favorite "frankenrazor" right now is the black aluminum Lupo head with a stainless West Coast Shaving handle.

www.badgerandblade.com

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Closed. The cap and baseplate are not flush as there is a spacer and extra blade in there:

Loosened a bit, you can see an air gap:

The whole thing feels very stout when tightened and the blades are very secure. Deathgrip.

Will it kill me?

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

A little bit of Jack Black still on the cap and spacer, I don’t want to clean the cap too much as I have a fair amount of blade wax on the post

 

[Babou]

Two blades in a DE !

 

[Slapo]

Since the end tabs are covered it might be hard to tell. I think the baseplate and cap share the same curve, but I will need to open it up to compare, although one might need to make a mold to actually check 100%. Well, precision measuring and some math may do it as well. It is like an Old Type where the baseplate is curved without cutout.

Here is a pic of the items (the RR Teck head is the same) from another poster (this was his last post on the combo). I'll take another pic with the baseplate upright later:

The Frankenrazor Thread

My favorite "frankenrazor" right now is the black aluminum Lupo head with a stainless West Coast Shaving handle.

www.badgerandblade.com

What I meant by the blade being engaged was I wasn't sure whether it would actually make contact with the skin, because the exposure for the upper blade is such that it seems you'll have to ride the bar or the cap, but even when riding the bar, it looks like the upper blade would come in contact with the skin first.
But then again, easy to test on a forearm. ;-)

I actually used to have the Saiver 2.0, but the thread looked like it was going to give out after some time, so it ended up in the bin, except for the shim. I think I've managed to deform it by an ill thought out experiment at one point in time, though.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

What I meant by the blade being engaged was I wasn't sure whether it would actually make contact with the skin, because the exposure for the upper blade is such that it seems you'll have to ride the bar or the cap, but even when riding the bar, it looks like the upper blade would come in contact with the skin first.
But then again, easy to test on a forearm. ;-)

I actually used to have the Saiver 2.0, but the thread looked like it was going to give out after some time, so it ended up in the bin, except for the shim. I think I've managed to deform it by an ill thought out experiment at one point in time, though.

I couldn't finish the shave with the two blades in the Baili. It shaved rather well, but it was rather uncomfortable, and made a tender area of my face flare deep red. The stout feeling of the contraption transferred to the shave. Rather than feeling smooth, the shave felt like a brick. It was probably more efficient, but the juice may not be worth the squeeze. I took out the spacer and the second blade, and finished the shave with one Bic CP.

There is one caveat that the two blades may have been mismatched in sharpeness and uses. In a few days, I will test it again with two new blades. Then maybe try it with split blades at top and a full blade at the bottom. If they are nogoes, then I will consider the expense of buying the three razors as an educational expense. It seems that this hobby has alot of that!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Trying a different tac tomorrow. Baseplate, new Kai, spacer, new Gillette Super Thin Japan steel. All loaded up and ready to go.

Maybe the extra width of the Kai will assist in balancing the two blades? Who knows?

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

The new setup worked much better. I am not sure if it is the wide blade + normal blade combo or two new blades were the difference, but much smoother shave than the first. I was able to complete a shave. A few red spots, but not many (although they are rare for me).

A light touch is needed as it shaves better when gliding. Buffing is not a good ideal. Having lather really helps the glide.

I feel another have will be better than the first due to technique improvement and blade break in.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

The second shave with the new blade combo was much nicer than the first. Really very efficient, but I am not burning up with irritation. A bit, but not too bad. Still not sure if the juice is worth the squeeze, but the improvements in the shaves are quite encouraging.

 

[Lane101]

@ErkRusselReserve , hard to tell from the photos if both blades are positioned so that both will actually make contact in the right way to cut hair. You may want to test this on some cardboard with a magnifier to see exactly if both are actually cutting anything.

Interesting experiment.

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

@ErkRusselReserve , hard to tell from the photos if both blades are positioned so that both will actually make contact in the right way to cut hair. You may want to test this on some cardboard with a magnifier to see exactly if both are actually cutting anything.

Interesting experiment.

Ill post some pictures of the new arrangement in a bit. The first version had both blade edges rather vertically parallel, which I am not sure is suitable. With the Kai on the bottom, the blades are stepped and offset a bit, which so far has given a much better shave.

A few hours post shave, I am still impressed in the increased efficiency with a lack of significant "burn." It was 1 pass with the grain then another pass across the grain plus some direction cleanup on the neck. I have yet to try against the grain on the checks, but soon enough!

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Third shave was the best so far. Rather smooth mostly. The face has a pleasant feeling of being shorn, but it is till too early to know if there is deep rooted burning. 2 pass, wtg and atg. It is not an autopilot shave yet.

I don’t want to push the repeated shave irritation risk, so will use another razor tomorrow.

It would be cool if there was a spacer that was engineered to fit. This one works pretty well, but I bet it could be improved.

Pics of the new blade setup:

 

[ErkRusselReserve]

Of note, the spacer is corrugated, which creates space between the blades and is a reservoir for water. Post water dip strokes were noticeably smoother than later in the stroke cycle. Paying attention to this could lead to significant variances in shaves.